This happened to my uncle who was travelling from Madurai to Chennai by Vaigai Express last year. He spent most of the journey gazing through the window and did not interact much with his co-passengers.
As the train entered the Chennai station, my uncle hurriedly went to the compartment exit and was soon on his way to attend a family wedding scheduled the same evening. Sometime during the function, uncle realised to his dismay that a gold ring was missing from his finger.
The ring had a lot of sentimental value as it was a family heirloom and he had inherited the same from his late father. Relatives told him that there was absolutely no way he would ever be able to find the lost ring.
It was at that time that an unknown number flashed on my uncle’s phone. The caller introduced himself and confirmed if he was talking to Ravichandran (my uncle). The caller told my uncle that he was his co-passenger in the train and he had noticed a gold ring lying beneath my uncle’s seat after he had disembarked. The gentleman was sure that the ring belonged to my uncle as he had noticed it on his finger during the journey and the
Good Samaritan had decided that the ring had to be returned to my uncle without any second thought.
The gentleman approached the station master and explained the entire situation to him. The relevant reservation charts were retrieved then and my uncle’s contact details were obtained from them. My uncle’s happiness knew no bounds and he requested his co-passenger to suggest a common meeting place. On learning that my uncle was attending a wedding, the nice gentleman offered to drop by at the wedding venue itself and return the ring so that my uncle did not have to miss any part of the function.
The gentleman arrived at the venue after some time and gave the precious heirloom to my uncle. He refused to accept any gift for having taken so much effort to return the ring and did not even stay back for dinner at the wedding despite much insistence from my uncle and other relatives. My granny summed up the entire incident in a few Tamil words and the translation goes like this: “It still rains on Earth because compassionate men like him still walk on Earth!”
R Gayatri Email: rgayatri80@gmail.com